Monarchy Audio Digital Interface Processor DACs

Monarchy Audio Digital Interface Processor DACs 

USER REVIEWS

Showing 11-18 of 18  
[Dec 14, 2001]
Jay
Audiophile

Strength:

The products provide "cleaner" sound, deeper bass, and more detail in the music. Allows for Toslink to Digital balanced conversion

Weakness:

None for the DIP Mk 2. The DIP upsampler was not compatible with my Parasound DAC 1100

This is actually a tale of two DIPs. After reading the Stereophile review of the DIP and the MSB DAC Full Nelson, I bought both products. The MSB Link DAC III Full Nelson (without external power supply) did not compare favorably with my resident Parasound DAC 1100, so I shipped it back. THe Monarchy DIP, however, stayed. I originally hooked it up to my Sony CDP XA20ES, and was VERY impressed with what I heard. The DIP allowed me to take the Toslink digital out of the Sony and use the balanced digital inputs of both the Parasound and MSB DACs (I used a 1 meter Balanced interconnect purchased from Monarchy for $59 and am very pleased).
One of the reasons I bought the MSB DAC was I wnted to jump on the upsampling band-wagon. The 96K upsampling sounded OK, but the Parasound still beat it. The 132K upsampling sounded like garbage. As I mentioned, the MSB went away, but I decided to try Monarchy's DIP upsampler. It has user changeable chips to re/upsample to 44.1, 48, and 96K. The unit also reduces jitter, and is supposed to be synergistic with the regular DIP. I tried piggy-backing them, but could not get it to work. The Parasound would not recognize the 48K signal. I was about to send it back when I decided to try it in my home theatre set-up. I hooked up the Toslink out of my SONY DVPS500D, and set the DIP upsampler to 96K and into My Rotel DSP 976 via a BetterCables digital COAX. I then was able to A/B this to the DVD player alone. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!!! DVD players supposedly upsample CD to 48K but there was such an improvement in BASS response as well as those harsh S-S-S's. I decided to keep the unit. I only wish it would pass through other 96K sources (like DVDs). But for the money ($299) it has a good ROI for me.

Similar Products Used:

None

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Dec 01, 2001]
Mark
Audiophile

Strength:

Soundstage detail,price,build quality

Weakness:

None

Adding this component improved my system greatly. I can here more detail in the music.It cleaned up the soundstage so I can here each instrument more clearly. Music is more "Live". System: Adcom GCD-600, Monarchy DIP ,Millenium 1B Dac, Wheatfield HA-1, Sennheiser HD-600 with Red Cloucable

Similar Products Used:

None

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Dec 21, 2001]
anthony
Audiophile

Strength:

Everything that sound can produce

Weakness:

none

This is one fantastic unit.
There are no words to describe its musicality. Buy it!!!!

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Aug 13, 1998]
Keith
an Audio Enthusiast

I just got the Monarchy DIP unit today. Putting it in my digital front end, I instantly noticed a difference... the dynamics were much greater, a lot of low-level details were immediately more evident. But the largest change of all was that the music itself became a lot more involving, a lot more musical and enjoyable. It enabled all my TOSLink digital sources to be converted to coaxial before going to my DAC; note that the Monarchy also has AES/EBU output for future DAC upgrades. Definitely worth giving it a try in any system with less than a $1,000 digital front end; judge for yourself but I'd bet you'd hate to take it out of your setup afterwards!!
Associated equipment:
Two Sony digital sources (CD & MD)
Entech Numbers Cruncher 203.2 DAC
Parasound HCA-1000A power amp
Paradigm Minimonitors
Kimber Kable Digital-X coax i/c
DH Labs BL-1 analog i/c's

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
[Oct 14, 1998]
Ranjith Senanayake
an Audio Enthusiast

I bought this anti jitter filter(Monarchy DIP) seven months ago and used it's XLR balanced output to hook up to my D/A converter(Parasound DAC1100and
and I immediately heard a big difference. Soundstage was much better and the bass got very nice and tight. The sound of CDs are much clearer, specially if you listen to a lot of solo piano and other accustical music. Highly recommended for people wanting to upgrade with a tight budget. It is only $200.00 through Audio Advisor

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
[Jun 13, 1999]
witchdoctor
an Audiophile

My front end consists of a Philips 870 cd recorder and a Musical Fidelity X-ACT dac and the X-PSU power supply.I just installed this unit a week ago and will not take it out of my system.What a difference it makes,espescially with acoustic instruments and vocals.You can really hear every nuance of Nat King Coles and Ella Fitzgerald's
enunciation.The crisp pluck of a bass note,the liquid shimmering of cymbals,become much more involving.Acoustic guitars have more depth,you can really hear the strings decay and the fingering of th notes.Not bad for a front end that cost under a grand total(and it records CD's too).



OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
[Feb 16, 2001]
Hon Mun Ng
Audiophile

Strength:

A good jitter bug that is back up by a good after sales service.

A group of us collectively bought 5 units directly from Mr Poon of Monarchy.

I partnered it with the MSB Link2 DAC. Out of the box, this DIP 24/96 already showed its prowess. The soundstage opened up and the mids are beautiful. You can hear the layering of the music. It really lives up to its review.

However, after 2 months of enjoyment, the DIP went dead. I found that it has blew fuse. I changed the fuse but it still did not work. I decided to email Mr Poon. He replied immediately and was helpful to advise me on several steps to trouble shoot. When we exhausted all avenues, he sent me a replacement unit.

I was very impressed with by his after sales service and his good business ethic.

As gesture to show my appreciation, I declined his offer to reimburse me when I sent the faulty set back to him.

I am now enjoying this product again.

Thanks Mr Poon.







OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[Apr 09, 2001]
David
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

opened-up sound, cheap

Weakness:

looses first few seconds of song

I have had my DIP hooked up all weekend. My first reaction was WOW, that really opens up the soundstage on my CDs. I haven't had a chance to "air it out" on a DVD but I did make sure that it worked OK.

After a while, I began to notice that everytime I switched discs, I would loose the first 4-5 seconds of the song. The DIP seems to have to determine what signal type it is receiving and then lock-on. This is very annoying if you put a player on shuffle, as it then does it on every song. Although I am very pleased with the sound, I'm considering returning it because of the delay problem.

Similar Products Used:

none

OVERALL
RATING
2
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 11-18 of 18  

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